CategoryArchaic Word / Theological Term
Modern Equivalentpagan nations; Gentiles; those without knowledge of the true God.
KJV Word TypeNoun / Adjective
DefinitionIn the OT, the nations surrounding Israel who did not worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Often used interchangeably with "Gentiles." In the KJV it carries a sense of those living outside the covenant, given over to idolatry and immorality.
Key Verses"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" (Psalm 2:1); "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." (Psalm 2:8)